Eric McCaffey
Gunner Eric McCaffey was a soldier of the Royal Artillery. He was a young soldier and brother of Gunner Syd McCaffey. He was known as a womaniser and had left his post for weeks and got married secretly without even telling his brother. After returning to his post he later meets and falls in love with a local farm girl and she ends up getting pregnant with his child. But with him already married he cannot marry her. He asks his brother to help him get a divorce but he is told that that could take months. Eric suggests that he marry the girl anyway and commit bigamy but his brother talks him out of it. Syd later tells Eric's wife and she forgives him and refuses to let him have a divorce. The child is born and Eric isn't allowed to see the baby or to go anywhere near it's mother. He doesn't even know what sex the child is. One day he sneaks down to the farm to see the baby and see it outside as the mother put it in the pram. He gives the child a rattle but then the girls father comes and shouts at Eric before throwing him off the farm. Eric tells him that he only wanted to know if the child was a girl or a boy, but the farmer refuses to tell him. When an air raid happens and the unit's radio is broken, Eric volunteers to go to the nearest phone and tell their command and get orders. He also takes the opportunity to go to the farm as he knows the farmer won't be there. When he returns he tells his brother that they let him see the child and that it is a boy they have called Winston. The farmers wife had even offered to talk to Eric's wife to see if she could help them get a divorce. As the air raid intensifies, the commander of the unit, Bombardier Tomlinson is wounded by shrapnel and when he returns to the cricket pavilion, which is their barracks, it is hit by friendly fire. He and Gunner Rice, who was also inside survive and began to put the fires out. Meanwhile the rest of the unit continue their task of lighting up the Luftwaffe planes for the gunners. One of the Luftwaffe planes that was hit begins diving towards them and Gunner Leslie Smith mans the Vickers machine and fires at it has it strafes him. The plane goes down and Smith is killed. After a moment to reflect on what has happened they all get back to manning the searchlight as the air raid is still going on. Twenty Years after the war, Eric is touring in a comedy act with his brother and his son is a grown young man who looks the spitting image of his father. Gallery Eric_McCaffey_(2).png Syd, Eric and Ogleby.png|Syd, Eric and Ogleby. McCaffey, Eric McCaffey, Eric McCaffey, Eric McCaffey, Eric McCaffey, Eric McCaffey, Eric McCaffey, Eric